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Freediving the rigs in the Gulf of Mexico

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Whew! Heluva deal Anderson. It's one thing to dive to the 100 foot mark using a training line......something completely different to haul a gun down in the middle of nowhere. In the words of Vadar, impressive...most impressive. Were you using a breakaway rig, or did you just secure your gun to the line? If I was hunting that deep (and I won't be for some time ;)), I would want to just shoot and forget about it until I got to the surface. I wouldn't want to haul a gun up 100 feet. And for that matter, even if I didn't get off a shot, I would probably still want to drop the gun and then just pull it up using the floatline :eek:.
 
Breakaway...

The scary thing was that many times, you had to hang on to the line to keep the fish out of the rig. As soon as he changed directions, you let go and went up. :) Having a gun that floats helps, but shouldering it through the bands and dolphin kicking up still works for me w/out much problem.

I think the key to deep hunting is being able to stay calm at all parts of the dive. I can't tell you how much my training program has helped me, though. I don't know what I was doing before it. :hmm

I'm soooooo addicted to big fish now. I think I'll leave the reefs back in FL to be hunted w/ just my camera. :D

A
 
Good story Anderson and Rig,
My new buddy and I shot a couple of those African Pompanos last week, but we thought they were horseye jacks. No wonder they tasted so good.

I meet my ultimate freediving buddy. Right here in my town, has 10 years of experience, is a certified lifeguard, done 150’ before, and is real safety conscious. He is every bit as into as me. Almost has me talked into breakaway system with a float. We went last week and this. We have already applied for a non-profit corporation, and purchased a web domain for our new freediving spearfishing club.

Anyone know of some tournaments left this year? There was going to one in Freeport, TX, but they are thinking of canceling it due to low turnout.

Yesterday, I went down and played tagged with a sheephead for about 1:30 when I finally got a good shoot. He went down and around two supports and I was at about 35’. If you remember, I use an inflatable float with a CO2 cartridge. I thought, I don’t have time to untangle this fish from the rig, so I pulled my cord, which is suppose to blow the float off (always has in the past) and then I was going to leave the gun and go to the surface. Nothing happened except a bunch of bubbles. I swam toward the surface and God much have been watching me, because that sheephead untied itself and came right up. Haven’t had time to look at the float yet, but I am sure not going again until I have figured out what happened and have it fixed.

Nice fish and red snappers. You know that the ones over 20lbs don’t taste as good, but they do make good pictures. I have yet to spear one. They are usually real deep, unless you can chum them up.
don
 
Originally posted by donmoore
Nice fish and red snappers. You know that the ones over 20lbs don’t taste as good, but they do make good pictures. I have yet to spear one.


:hmm


and while I'm all for dicking around with new ideas and hardware, I was kinda waiting to hear that your CO2 rig took a puke as do most things powered by a BBgun cylinder. Bummer. I'm looking at Iya's float next. ;)

As the Pastey Spearo implied though, shooting the fish so the tip toggles lets you "play" or horse the fish away from the entanglements and is a helluva lot more dependable in terms of being able to jettison the gun and haul your rear to the surface.
 
Hey Sven,
You might make a believer out of me yet. I sure like going in, around, and out of the rig legs and cross braces, but only if the backup float is reliable. The least I should have lost though was a Riffe MT-1.

My next experiment is going to be wearing an SOS inflatable life vest. I keep going deeper and deeper and I don’t know what my limits are. Sometimes I would just like to pull the cord on the way up and not worry. We were targeting grey snapper, that when in schools, are pretty skittish. Some bubble blowers came to rig and scarred them down to about 70 feet. I dove their once, but the fear of making it back to the top made me turn around immediately.
don
 
Don, try getting out away from the rig a little bit. We shot the snappers, aj's and kings a couple hundred feet off the rig. I rarely get into the rig anymore. The better fish will almost always be off the rig to some degree. As for tourny's, there is still the St Pete Open in Fl. Talked to Daryl Wong last night and he informed me that he is sending two guns and a float to put on their prize table:cool:

As for big snapper not tasting as good...I think thats something people say when they shoot smaller fish:D
 
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As for big snapper not tasting as good...I think thats something people say when they shoot smaller fish:D [/B][/QUOTE]

I would have given you the 24lb red snapper we caught last year. After 3 months in the freezer it tasted and felt like leather.

I will try getting out farther from the rigs. Do you ever see shark out there? My partner said he say a black tip last week when we went. The vis was bad that day and I get a little freaked with water on all sides.
don
 
theres the problem...don't freeze the fish! If we get alot of fish, I call everyone I know and dammit we eat! Seriously though, I dont care too much for anything frozen.

As for the sharks, no we dont usually have problems with them. They are there though, but we rarely see them. It does take a little getting used to, being away from the structure.
 
Originally posted by donmoore
My next experiment is going to be wearing an SOS inflatable life vest. I keep going deeper and deeper and I don’t know what my limits are. don


Waitaminute... you're going to strap on and rely on something that operates the same as the other float you had that puked?? :confused: alllrighty then... You may want to go the route of the Styron and myself- have a d ring on your belt that you clip your float line to. You need to bail, drop the belt and cruise North. The float and bouy will keep your belt handy when you come to.

(and the only thing I keep in the freezer for 3 friggin' months is my cold, leathery heart! :hungover )

Hey Mike! Aren't you supposed to be doin' that married thing instead of surfing the posts? ;)
 
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Sven,
Only problem with your method, is that with my 1mm wet suit, I can’t use any weight. Not enough body fat I guess. Ha ha! It’s pretty warm here to wear anything more than a 1mm this time of year. I figure two CO2 cartridges must be more reliable than one.

I put an air compressor on my inflatable float today and it would barely blow up. Took the valve parts apart, clean them, and put them back together and now it blows up instantly.

Mike must be doing spousal training! You have to let them know right away that there will be plenty of time for them, but freediving has to come first! Once they are correctly trained, marriage is much better.
don
 
Don,

The Carter Parachute Float works well. Tested today. I used 3 strands/lines of dental floss as the auto inflation. The 2 x 68 gram Leland cartridges fired well. I was in 120 feet of water and shot a small +-8kg tuna. It took off fast going deep and pulled the float along and the 3 strands dental floss punched the C02 via the activator, all happened fast and sweet. When the parachute float was filling air, the shape of the parachute actually already slowed the fish down. By the time the parachute float was filled with air at about 140 feet ( I calculated only some 12 liter of air then there ), the tuna was swimming away and not gaining any distance or depth. The no hole in parachute you worried is OK, it does not bother the water drag or opening capability of the float. I have fired the co2 by manual last week and so did my friend. Mine on a small 5kg fish and my friend on a 12kg dog tooth tuna, so far so good. My friend pulled by manual and only 1 of the 2 C02 fired when the 2 strands dental floss broke and fired the C02. Now we use 3 layers of dental floss instead of 2.

The position of the float carried on the gun as I showed you is quite OK, not much a bother or drag. Maybe this area later need to be improved.

Will update you when I land something big with the Carter parachute float.

IYA
 
Iya,
I replied to you in your float post. Great its working!

Anderson,
Thanks for posting the picture of the African Pompano. Now I know what they are, and they taste great! It’s a bit like tuna - meat slightly red, but when cooked it turns completely white, plus the length of cooking doesn’t have to be a critical as tuna. We had whole schools of them swim by, but since we didn’t know what they were and already had two in the icebox, we didn’t shoot anymore. I’m still kicking myself.
don
 
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